


Isolation

by Hoothootmotherf_ckers



Series: stolen century sickfic [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Team as Family, please read the notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23636824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoothootmotherf_ckers/pseuds/Hoothootmotherf_ckers
Summary: Lucretia gets sick, and locks herself in isolation on the Starblaster to protect the others. Her family doesn't exactly take this well - Taako the least of all.(Quarantine, from Taako's perspective.)
Relationships: Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), The Director | Lucretia & Taako
Series: stolen century sickfic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701511
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	Isolation

**Author's Note:**

> When I wrote the prequel to this fic, in January, I was extremely ill with a respiratory virus of some variety. It was not Covid-19, just something flu-like that made me miserable, and while symptoms happen to be similar, I want to be abundantly clear that the illness Lucretia has in this fic is not Covid and is not intended to be Covid. At the time of writing the first fic, I had very little knowledge of Covid-19, honestly. It had hardly spread outside of mainland China, and as a person who lives in the United States, while I worried about the people of China, this all seemed very distant. That has since changed. 
> 
> I want to be clear that I’m not attempting to like, I don’t know, profit off of or benefit from Covid or something. That would be despicable and inexcusable. Rather, this is quite honestly written to cope. Today, April 13, is my 28th day of mandated shelter in place. My college graduation has been cancelled, and I’m taking my last courses from home. My mother is a healthcare worker, and half my family is immunocompromised. I’m under a bit of stress at the moment, and this is intended as a way to release a little of that. 
> 
> If reading a fic about a person worrying about a sick family member will increase your stress levels, please do not read this. Keep yourself safe, everybody. <3

Taako follows Lup up the winding dirt road to the Starblaster, tired but relieved. This has been a rough cycle, and with three weeks left they _still_ haven’t found the Light of Creation. But today has brought them the first spot of hope in a long while - they’d split up into teams of two, and while Taako and Lup hadn’t found anything useful, Barry and Davenport were confident enough in their breakthrough to call everyone back to the ship to plan. So they weren’t there yet, but they’re getting there, and Taako bumps his sister’s shoulder good-naturedly as they board the ship. 

She shoves him back, and then races into the main room of the ship. They’re the first back, so they hang out for a couple minutes, joking and laughing. The others slowly trickle in - Magnus and Merle first, hope shining in their eyes, and then finally Barry and Davenport, the former looking gleeful and the latter looking smug. 

“Do you think…” Lup trails off, questioning in a way Taako recognizes as trying to not get her hopes up.

“Yep, yep yep yep, we do!” Barry says back, all but rubbing his hands together in glee. 

Taako claps his hands. “Alright, fuck yeah, council of war time, I’m gonna grab some snacks and also Creesh and then let’s fucking do this!” And with that, he makes his way into the kitchen and toward his ever-growing stash of baked goods (look, he’s a stress baker, okay?). 

But he doesn’t make it that far. He stops dead at the kitchen table, warm and familiar with nicks in the wood, comforting as ever. What’s _not_ comforting in the slightest is a crisply folded sheet of paper resting at the head of the table, signed on the outside in wobbly cursive “to everyone, from Lucretia.” Oh yeah, and the two vials of what looks a hell of a lot like _human blood._

He’s distantly proud of how his voice doesn’t crack as he shouts, “Everybody get in here _right fucking now!”_

They’ve learned this many cycles in to read each others’ tone, to tell jokes from business, and the rest of the crew all but sprint into the room. “What’s happened?” Merle asks, voice tight. “What-“ and then he sees the table. “What the _ever-loving hell_ is that?”

“Ohhh boy, that’s blood, why is that blood, whose blood is that?” Magnus rambles, nervousness tripping up his tongue.

Lup’s not nervous, though. Her voice is steel solid as she says, “Give me that note.” 

She snatches it from the table, and spends a second reading it in silence, before muttering, “Shit. _Fuck_.”

“Well?!” 

“Okay, okay!” She says, waving a hand. “This is from Lucretia. It says… _Fuck_.” Lup takes a deep breath, and reads.

“Dear all: I’m sick. As a result, I’ve quarantined myself in my room, following IPRE mission protocol. I have enough food and water for it to not be a concern. I will be fine. Do not attempt to enter my room. If-“ and here Lup stumbles- “If you would like to attempt to synthesize a cure, I have provided a sample of my blood. See you in a bit. Love, Lucretia.”

Lup turns around the note to show it to everyone else. Lucretia’s handwriting isn’t usually _elegant,_ per se, but it’s neat and crisp and legible. This… isn’t. The words wobble across the page, and the simple, stilted note is filled with dozens of scratched-out words. 

Taako takes one look at that and sprints to Lucretia’s room. 

He’s caught by a mage hand just before he reaches the door. “Get the fuck off me, old man,” he almost growls back at Merle, anxiety taking its toll on his temper. But Merle looks unfazed. 

“Nope, sorry,” he says, kind but firm. “Look, dude, I get it. But this is my jurisdiction. I’m the medic here. Let me do my job.” 

By now, everyone else has caught up. “Taako… let him try first?” Lup says, quietly. 

“Fine,” Taako snaps, and he steps back. 

Merle makes his way to Lucretia’s bedroom door, and knocks twice. “Hey, Lucretia?” he calls, voice just loud enough to carry. “Mind if I come in?”

“Yeah, uh-“ and she’s interrupted by her own hacking coughs, “ _ack_ -actually, I do.” Merle winces at the sound of her shredded voice, and Magnus’s fists clench. Quite frankly, she sounds like shit. 

Merle keeps his voice light, doing his best to keep his concern from his voice, though it’s clear in his face. “Right. Okay. I respect that, but also, as your medic, I _really_ must insist.”

“How about no,” Lucretia replies, and her voice is harsh and weak and pained, and this is the breaking point for Taako. He let Merle try. 

“Uh, how about _yes_ , Creesh, you’re kinda freaking us out here,” he says, and he doesn’t wait for another response as he strides past Merle and casts Knock. The door swings open smoothly, but his charge into her room is abruptly stopped by a shimmering wall of light. 

“Eyyy, abjuration, remember?” comes weakly through the veil, and Taako’s eyes lock on to Lucretia’s bed. She’s huddled under a mess of blankets and quilts, just her face and hands - pointing finger guns, of all things - poking out. Her hair is clinging limply to her face, her eyes are a little vacant with fever, and her skin has a grey cast to it that Taako _really_ doesn’t like. 

“Lucretia, really,” comes Barry’s voice from behind Taako, struggling to keep even. His eyes are tight with pain. “Can we come in? We just-“

“ _No!_ ” she snaps, setting off another round of raw, hacking coughs that has Merle wincing, and in turn concerns the hell out of Taako. “No, absolutely not. _Especially_ not you, actually you and Magnus _please_ go wash your hands,” pleading weakly. Her voice is fading in and out, too thin and too high when she tries to get loud. 

“Ah, fuck, right,” Barry mutters, almost too low to hear. “Alright, you heard her, let’s go.” As he trades a significant glance with Merle, he grabs Magnus’s arm and starts to pull him away.

“But I- she- why?” Magus asks plaintively, pulling back toward the door. 

Barry doesn’t let up. “I’ll explain on the way, c’mon.” With that, Barry drags Magnus toward the Starblaster’s kitchen. Taako just barely catches hints of words like “zoonosis” and “interspecies transmission.” 

Lup takes the forefront, pushing aside Taako so she can see Lucretia properly, and she takes on a softer, gentler tone. “Okay, you’re not coming out, I get that. I won’t push. Your note was-“

“Self-sacrificing, stupid, bullshit-“ Taako bursts out, unable to stop himself, and is met with a glare and a sneaky elbow to the ribs by Lup. 

“- _Very adamant_ ,” Lup continues determinedly, “that you were doing this and we couldn’t change your mind. And I’m not going to fight you-“ 

“ _yet,_ ” Taako mutters darkly, rubbing his side and glaring at Lup. 

“- because you’re sick and need to rest, and _we_ need to stop stressing you out.” Lup directs this straight at Taako, glaring at him until he scrunches up his face and drops his own glare. She lowers her voice and turns back to Lucretia. “But like, can we get you anything? Do anything?”

“Not really,” Lucretia says, although that’s a polite word for the scraping, creaking noise her voice makes. “I have spell slots, and besides, you can’t give me anything unless I drop the barrier, which I’m _not_ doing.” 

“Okay, okay,” Lup says soothingly, and only Taako can see the tension in her every movement. “We’ll leave you to rest for a bit, then? We need to discuss some things.” With that, she grabs Taako’s arm in a vice grip and drags him back to the main room. 

“Are we seriously-“ Taako’s voice cuts out for a moment in sheer shock and rage. “Are we _seriously_ just going to _LEAVE HER THERE?”_

“No! Fuck no! Fucking hell, no!” Lup says, eyes wide and composure finally cracking. “Gah! Fuck!” She pulls Taako in for a tight hug, and he can feel her shaking a little. 

“This is so fucked up,” Taako mutters into her shoulder.

Lup lets go. “Yes, yes it is. But I had to agree with her, okay? She’s really stressed, and that can’t be helping right now, and while I have some _opinions_ about how she’s handling this, she’s not wrong. If Barry and Magnus get sick, we’re going to have some problems.”

“I’d just like to say,” Magnus says, entering the room, “I have been sick before, and while it has seriously sucked, I can handle it.” 

“We know, Magnus,” Barry says tiredly from behind him. “But we don’t know what the fuck this is, and we don’t know how it will affect us. You have different physiology, she’s a magic user and you aren’t, we all have different underlying medical conditions… I hate this, but she’s right. We need to figure out what she’s got, first, before we go any further.”

“And I hate to say it, but we also need to find the Light.”

Taako spins around to face Davenport. “ _Fuck_ the Light!” he snarls. “Lucretia’s fucking miserable, she could be- she could be _dying_ in there for all we know.”

Davenport looks profoundly upset but he stands firm. “And she locked herself in there so we could find the Light and save a world, Taako. We have to be practical about this, okay? None of us,” he grimaces with a sudden anguish to match Taako’s, “ _none of us_ want to do this. But she’s an adult, she’s part of this crew, and as much as we hate this we have to respect her decisions, okay?”

Taako nods, sharp and jerky. “Fine. We’ll multitask.”

“Agreed,” Davenport says curtly. “Merle, take Taako and Barry. Start analyzing her blood, doing what research you can. This is your wheelhouse, I’ll leave you to it, but be on call for consultation for Light-related things, you especially, Barry. Lup, Magnus, you’re with me. We’re going back down, following the lead Barry and I found. We are going to get the Light back. Okay?” He looks around the room and is met by the shaky but solid gazes of his crew, his family. “Good. Take an hour to process, eat some food. We’ll meet back here.”

And with that, Taako turns on his heel and all but races off the ship.


End file.
